Fuji announces FinePix S2 Pro pricing!By
Mike Tomkins(Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 00:18 EST)List price might raise a few eyebrows after Canon's recent update to EOS D60 pricing...Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. was the first company to announce a new digital SLR for this year in early January, quickly followed by Sigma, Canon and Nikon. The company has now emailed us to officially announce pricing for its FinePix S2 Pro, stating:

"Fujifilm announces the suggested list price of $3495 for the FinePix S2 Pro -- the widely anticipated successor to the acclaimed FinePix S1 Pro. Boasting a new, professional Super CCD sensor system producing images of up to 4256 x 2848 (12.1 million) recorded pixels for stunning pictures and dual-storage media options, units will be available in the second half of 2002 for review."

The price is somewhat of a surprise considering that Canon's EOS D60 (a camera that is quite similar in specification to the S2 Pro) is already shipping at $2200. Nikon are expected to have a similarly competitive price for their D100 digital SLR when it reaches the market, and the rumors we're hearing from Japan suggest that the $3000 price for Sigma's SD9 digital SLR are probably on the high side as well.

Of course, the FinePix S2 Pro does have some features absent on the other cameras such as FireWire connectivity and dual media slots (Type-II CompactFlash and SmartMedia). It also uses Fuji's proprietary SuperCCD imager, which the company feels gives it a resolution and sensitivity advantage - but which comes at the cost of significantly larger file sizes since the octagonal sensor layout doesn't match directly to the square pixel layout the final images use. The question is whether these features can command a $1200 premium, or potentially even more by the time the camera starts shipping...Source:
Fuji Photo Film USA Inc.